Beloved Pharaoh. Born: June 3rd., 2003 – Died: June 19th., 2017. A very special dog that will never be forgotten.

Dogs live in the present – they just are! Dogs make the best of each moment uncluttered by the sorts of complex fears and feelings that we humans have. They don’t judge, they simply take the world around them at face value. Yet they have been part of man’s world for an unimaginable time, at least 30,000 years. That makes the domesticated dog the longest animal companion to man, by far!

As man’s companion, protector and helper, history suggests that dogs were critically important in man achieving success as a hunter-gatherer. Dogs ‘teaching’ man to be so successful a hunter enabled evolution, some 20,000 years later, to farming, thence the long journey to modern man. But in the last, say 100 years, that farming spirit has become corrupted to the point where we see the planet’s plant and mineral resources as infinite. Mankind is close to the edge of extinction, literally and spiritually.

A Peck of Places to Take Your Dog Apple Picking

Your pooch may be the apple of your eye, but did you know you can take her to pick apples with you, too? Many farms and orchards around the country welcome four-legged guests. Not only can you use apples to make delicious apple pies, apple cider and apple butter, but your pup can enjoy the fruit as well! According to the American Kennel Club, apples are safe for dogs to eat, in moderation of course. However, dogs should not consume the seeds because they contain a plant compound that converts into cyanide when chewed. The core should also be kept away from pups, as it could be a choking hazard.

Deardorff Orchards

“Give us apples … and then maybe we’ll tell you who’s who.”Photo by @ellogoldengirls

Deardorff Orchards loves dogs, which is why they have two separate pet water stations on the premises as well as waste bags available for guests with pups. Dogs are welcome on their 125 acres of grounds if they’re leashed and friendly. You and your pup will be able to pick from their 10 varieties of apples, and their 3,000 trees ensure you can have your pick of the litter. Deardorff Orchards also has pumpkins, red wagons if you want to tow along your kids or your exceptionally lazy dog, and farm animals for Fido to meet. Guests are welcome to enjoy the barn, listen to live music, sample their wines, and take a tractor ride on the weekends. If your furry travel companion still isn’t ready to go home after a trip to the farm, visit dog-friendly Minneapolis, which is only about an hour away.

Pick-Your-Own apples is available at Deardorff Orchards Fridays to Sundays from September 5 through late October. Depending on the weather, apple picking is open from noon until 5 p.m. Customers must purchase at minimum a half-peck bag (roughly six pounds) before heading to the orchard. The cost varies depending on the apple variety and availability.

Grandad’s Apples

Just a short drive from Asheville (and about two hours from Charlotte), Grandad’s Apples has been family-owned and operated since 1994. Pups and people alike can enjoy the 100 acres of the farm. Leashed dogs can join you while picking apples from the orchard but are not allowed in the pumpkin and playground areas. Fido is welcome inside the Barn and Country Store (where you can shop for apple turnovers, hot cider donuts, caramel apples and other goodies), near the barnyard corral where he can hang out with the resident farmyard animals, and in their 5-acre corn maze. Weekends at Grandad’s are full of fun events like cow trains, jump pillows, and even an apple cannon!

Grandad’s Apples is open for apple picking from late July through the third week of October from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Pick-Your-Own is $11 for a peck and $18 for a half bushel. The corn maze is $4 per person and free for dogs. They recommend calling ahead to learn what’s available for picking before visiting.

Wrights Farm

Your pooch will love exploring Wrights Farm’s vast 453 acres. In addition to picking from the 100,000 bushels of apples they grow every year, you and Fido can hike, bike, picnic or tailgate here. They even welcome you to bring gas grills, kites and frisbees. The farm, which has been family-run for five generations, also offers Pick-Your-Own pumpkins and sells a variety of fruits, vegetables, baked goods, jams, jellies, pickles and apple sauces.

You can pick apples at Wrights Farm from September 8 to November 3, 2019. Pick-Your-Own hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m every day. Admission is $12 and includes a one-peck bag. Children 5 to 9 years old pay $6 and receive a ½-peck bag. Children under 5 and dogs are free. Additional bags are available for purchase.

Kiyokawa Family Orchards

“It’s been apple-asure to share the wagon with you.”Photo by @itsokayklar

Dogs are part of the family, which is why leashed pups are invited to create fall memories along with everyone else at Kiyokawa Family Orchards. The family-owned and operated business has been growing produce (more than 120 varieties of apples and pears today!) since 1911. Dogs can lend a helping paw in the orchards. However, they may not enter the fruit stand. There is a water bowl for your pup to cool off and waste bags are available for easy cleanup. After you get your selection from the largest U-Pick orchard in the valley, don’t forget to snap some photos of Fido with the gorgeous backdrop of Mt. Hood.

Kiyokawa Family Orchards is open Saturdays and Sundays from July 13 to August 30 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. From August 30 to November 4, operating hours are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. There is no admission fee and fruit prices vary.

Terison Apple Orchard

Terison Apple Orchard gets it. One of their owners has her own pet-sitting service, so they understand how much people love their pooches. Leashed dogs can help you pick apples in their low-spray orchard. It’s the first Pick-Your-Own orchard in Maine, and you and your pup can bond together while savoring the sweet fruits of your labor.

While exact dates and hours vary due to the weather, Terison Apple Orchard is generally open from early September through October, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The orchard is self-service and uses the honor system. Bags cost $10 and $20, payable by cash only.

Cider Hill Family Orchard

Apple picking with your pup can be a real balancing act.
Photo by Facebook.com/ciderhillfamilyorchardLeashed furry family members can help you pick from 18 different types of apples at Cider Hill Family Orchard’s 1,500 apple trees. Dogs are welcome on the 38 acres of farmland, but they may not enter buildings including the gift shop. Cider Hill also has a pumpkin patch, a fishing pond, a fire pit, hayrides and kid’s train rides. While you’re here, don’t forget to sample delicious treats made on site like cinnamon-cider doughnuts, apple crisp, kettle corn and apple butter.

Apple picking at Cider Hill begins in August. However, the end of the season varies due to the weather. In August, operating hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. In September and October, operating hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. There is no admission fee. A peck of apples is $11, a half bushel is $21, and a bushel is $40. Aggressive dogs are not permitted.

Applecrest Farm

Don’t sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me.Photo by @thesecretworldofjensendean

Applecrest Farm is not only the oldest continuously operated apple orchard in America, and the oldest and largest in New Hampshire, it’s also dog friendly! Pups are welcome if they’re leashed, under control and picked up after. The farm boasts 220 acres and more than 40 types of apples. While dogs are not permitted in buildings or in the blueberry fields, you and Fido may enjoy the free tractor rides offered to and from the orchard on weekends in September and October. If your pup is itching for a road trip, the farm is conveniently located an hour from Boston and about 15 miles from historic Portsmouth and Newburyport.

Customers can pick apples from mid-August to late October from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily. Admission is free. Pick-Your-Own apples are sold by the peck for $20 and by the half bushel for $30, payable by cash only.

Hilltop Orchards

“Now, how do I get out?”
Photo by @rogerdawgHilltop Orchards uses eco-farming methods to grow no-residue apples, which you and your leashed pup can pick together. The family-run property sits on 200 acres and grows 26 varieties of apples, most of which are available for Pick-Your-Own. On weekends during peak season, they offer free hayrides for two-legged and four-legged guests alike from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Hilltop Orchards also allows visitors with pets to use their land for hiking, skiing and snowshoeing. In addition, furry visitors can join you for wine and/or hard cider tastings at their on-site Furnace Brook Winery.

Apple season at Hilltop Orchards runs from Labor Day through Columbus Day, although they often have limited availability before and after these dates. The orchards are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A half peck costs $7, a peck costs $10, and a half bushel costs $20.

Minnetonka Orchards

Minnetonka Orchards is very dog friendly. Dogs are welcome in all 12 acres of apple orchards and even on hayrides. They only ask that dogs are leashed and picked up after. The orchards, which have been around since 1976, feature 12 types of apples. The grounds also include Cinderella pumpkin patches and fields of gourds and squash. Other activities include a petting zoo, a tree deck, a corn maze, nature trails and several kids’ play areas. Tasty snacks like apple donuts and brats are also available for purchase. Their sister company, Painter Creek Winery & Cidery, allows dogs as well.

Minnetonka Orchards is open daily from late August through October. Hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The admission fee varies based on the crop but includes access to all the attractions on the premises.

Alldredge Orchards

Alldredge Orchards welcomes dogs to pick apples with their owners as long as they’re leashed and cleaned up after (and you let them pet your pooch!). They grow several varieties which vary year to year depending on the weather. The property also has a pumpkin patch, barn store, cafe, playground and farm animals, so there’s plenty of fun for the whole family.

Alldredge Orchards is open from Labor Day Weekend through October. Guests can pick apples during the weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $3 for ages 2 and up. Prices for apples are based on the crop and availability, and they recommend calling ahead before visiting.

Doe Orchards

Doe Orchards has offered Pick-Your-Own apples since the 1960s and has no plans of stopping now. Leashed four-legged guests are allowed during the fall as long as their two-legged companions clean up after them. Doe Orchards also has pumpkins, gourds, honey and cider. There are plenty of areas for picnicking after a long day of fruit-filled fun.

Apple picking usually begins Labor Day weekend (but may be a little later this season due to weather) and ends in mid-October. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Prices in 2018 were $17 for a peck and $30 for a half bushel.

West Valley U-Pick

West Valley U-Pick offers a great pesticide-free option for you and your pup, not to mention it was named one of Washington’s top 10 apple picking spots. Leashed dogs are welcome anywhere on the property to help you sniff out your perfect pick of apples or other seasonal fruits and veggies. If your pooch really wants to feel accomplished, you can even use one of the orchard’s old-fashioned hand-cranked cider presses to make your own cider.

Fido can pick apples Monday through Saturday 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from late August until the end of September. There is no admission fee for two- or four-legged pickers. Apples are $0.85 per pound and cider presses may be used for free with the purchase of U-Pick apples–simply bring your own container or purchase one of theirs.

DeMeritt Hill Farm

“Didn’t I do good? Aren’t I a good boy? Shouldn’t I get … treats?”Photo by Nicolle/BringFido

Dogs are welcome to join you at DeMeritt Hill Farm as long as they are leashed at all times. Don’t worry if you forget one! Leashes are available for rent or purchase at their store. There are trash bins throughout the property for easy cleanup after your pup. Dogs are allowed on the orchard grounds (with 25 apple varieties) and trails, just not in the buildings or on the hayrides.

The farm gives back to animals as well. Every October, it hosts Haunted Overload, a Halloween attraction that benefits the Pope Memorial Humane Society. Dogs are allowed during day haunts but are not permitted at night. The annual “spooktacle” has been voted one of the top haunted attractions in the country multiple times, and even won “The Great Halloween Fright Fight’” on ABC. The $50,000 grand prize from the show was donated to the Humane Society.

DeMeritt Farms is open for apple picking from late August through October. Pick-Your-Own is available Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no admission fee, but customers must purchase a one-peck bag before entering the orchard. The price depends on the type of apple but is typically around $16 per peck.

ooOOoo

Yes, I know they are selling apples but nonetheless the photographs are so good that as far as I am concerned the post is a big plus!

But it seems as though getting our ducks in a row is going to become a high priority this week.

Plus, I am pleased to say that I am writing my second book. I had a meeting with H. Ní Aódagaín during the week and she has set me on the straight and narrow, so to speak.

H. Ní Aódagaín

She has her website here and although she promotes herself as a writer she is quite an editor and writing counsellor. I had over 20,000 words already written but had got myself completely lost and confused. Under her guidance I believe I got myself sorted.All of which is to say that the blog is taking a slightly backward step between now and the 14th October. I’m not saying that nothing will be published but at the present time I don’t have a clue as to what I shall do!

Hope you understand!

Finally, there should be plenty of photographs to share with you at some time after we are back.

One skill that doesn’t deteriorate with age

When Toni Morrison died on Aug. 5, the world lost one of its most influential literary voices.

But Morrison wasn’t a literary wunderkind. “The Bluest Eye,” Morrison’s first novel, wasn’t published until she was 39. And her last, “God Help the Child,” appeared when she was 84. Morrison published four novels, four children’s books, many essays and other works of nonfiction after the age of 70.

Morrison isn’t unique in this regard. Numerous writers produce significant work well into their 70s, 80s and even their 90s. Herman Wouk, for example, was 97 when he published his final novel, “The Lawgiver.”

Such literary feats underscore an important point: Age doesn’t seem to diminish our capacity to speak, write and learn new vocabulary. Our eyesight may dim and our recall may falter, but, by comparison, our ability to produce and to comprehend language is well preserved into older adulthood.

Some aspects of our language abilities, such as our knowledge of word meanings, actually improve during middle and late adulthood.

One study, for example, found that older adults living in a retirement community near Chicago had an average vocabulary size of over 21,000 words. The researchers also studied a sample of college students and found that their average vocabularies included only about 16,000 words.

In another study, older adult speakers of Hebrew – with an average age of 75 – performed better than younger and middle-aged participants on discerning the meaning of words.

On the other hand, our language abilities sometimes function as a canary in the cognitive coal mine: They can be a sign of future mental impairment decades before such issues manifest themselves.

In 1996, epidemiologist David Snowdon and a team of researchers studied the writing samples of women who had become nuns. They found that the grammatical complexity of essays written by the nuns when they joined their religious order could predict which sisters would develop dementia several decades later. (Hundreds of nuns have donated their brains to science, and this allows for a conclusive diagnosis of dementia.)

While Toni Morrison’s writing remained searingly clear and focused as she aged, other authors have not been as fortunate. The prose in Iris Murdoch’s final novel, “Jackson’s Dilemma,” suggests some degree of cognitive impairment. Indeed, she died from dementia-related causes four years after its publication.

Toni Morrison published her last novel, ‘God Help the Child,’ when she was 84 years old.AP Photo/Michel Euler

Don’t put down that book

Our ability to read and write can be preserved well into older adulthood. Making use of these abilities is important, because reading and writing seem to prevent cognitive decline.

Keeping a journal, for example, has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of developing various forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.

Reading fiction, meanwhile, has been associated with a longer lifespan. A large-scale study conducted by the Yale University School of Public Health found that people who read books for at least 30 minutes a day lived, on average, nearly two years longer than nonreaders. This effect persisted even after controlling for factors like gender, education and health. The researchers suggest that the imaginative work of constructing a fictional universe in our heads helps grease our cognitive wheels.

Language is a constant companion during our life journey, so perhaps it’s no surprise that it’s interwoven into our health and our longevity. And researchers continue to make discoveries about the connections between language and aging. For example, a study published in July 2019 found that studying a foreign language in older adulthood improves overall cognitive functioning.

A thread seems to run through most of the findings: In order to age well, it helps to keep writing, reading and talking.

While few of us possess the gifts of a Toni Morrison, all of us stand to gain by continuing to flex our literary muscles.

Richard M. Roberts, a U.S. diplomat currently serving as the Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Consulate General in Okinawa, Japan, is a contributing author of this article.

The dog is one of the world’s most destructive mammals. Brazil proves it.

RIO DE JANEIRO — High above this Brazilian city, in a jungle blanketing a mountain, the turtles were out, and the scene was hopeful.

Scientists were reintroducing 15 mud-caked tortoises to this urban forest where they had once been plentiful. Children were running around. People were oohing and aahing. A stern-looking security guard appeared to briefly smile.

But not government biologist Katyucha Silva. She was thinking about dogs.

What would they do to these turtles? What were they doing to Brazil?

It’s a question more researchers are beginning to ask in a country where there are more dogs than children — and where dogs are quickly becoming the most destructive predator. They’re invading nature preserves and national parks. They’re forming packs, some 15 dogs strong, and are hunting wild prey. They’ve muscled out native predators such as foxes and big cats in nature preserves, outnumbering pumas 25 to 1 and ocelots 85 to 1.

Every year, they become still more plentiful, spreading diseases, disrupting natural environments, goosing scientists who set up elaborate camera systems to photograph wild animals, only to come away with pictures of curious canines.

“It’s a difficult thing for people to hear,” said Isadora Lessa, a Rio de Janeiro biologist who wrote her doctoral dissertation on domestic dogs causing environmental mayhem. “They love dogs too much.”

How the dog became one of the world’s most harmful invasive mammalian predators is as much a global story as a Brazilian one. Over the last century, as the human population exploded, so did the dog population, growing to an estimated 1 billion.

That has been great for people — and even better for dogs — but less so for nature, according to a growing body of academic research implicating canines, particularly the free-roaming ones, in environmental destruction.

“The global impacts of domestic dogs on wildlife are grossly underestimated,” researchers concluded in a 2017 study published in the journal Biological Conservation. The researchers, based in Australia, convicted dogs in the extinction of 11 species and declared them the third-most-damaging mammal, behind only cats and rodents.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature maintains a list of animals whose numbers dogs are culling. There are 191, and more than half are classified as either endangered or vulnerable. They range from lowly iguanas to the famed Tasmanian devil, from doves to monkeys, a diversity of animals with nothing in common beyond the fact that dogs enjoy killing them. In New Zealand, the organization reported, a single German shepherd once did in as many as 500 kiwis — and that was the conservative estimate.

“Unfortunately, we have a big problem,” said Piero Genovesi, chair of the agency’s invasive species unit. “There is a growing number of dogs.”

People all over the world are — begrudgingly — beginning to take note.

And in Brazil, atop a mountain outside of Rio de Janeiro, 15 tortoises were nestling into the forest floor, oblivious to the danger of the forest’s leading predator.

‘A complex problem’

And in Brazil, atop a mountain outside of Rio de Janeiro, 15 tortoises were nestling into the forest floor, oblivious to the danger of the forest’s leading predator.

Researchers estimate there are more than 100 dogs in Tijuca National Park outside Rio de Janeiro, where they hunt and kill wild animals in packs. (Courtesy of Katyucha Silva)

Brazil is home to an estimated 52 million dogs, according to the most recent government statistics — more than anywhere in Latin America — but their lives vary widely. In a nation defined by inequality, where the rich fly in helicopters over the poor in the favelas below, the dog has become one more way of understanding the divide.

In wealthy cities, the dog is everywhere, strolling through fancy shopping malls, sitting in the laps of restaurant patrons, even riding paddle boards out on the surf. Some people wheel their dogs around in little strollers.

“The dog brings to Brazilians some things that Brazilians appreciate in themselves,” said Alexandre Rossi, a television personality more commonly known as Dr. Pet. “To be friendly, to want to socialize with everyone . . . and be there and be close to your family. These are perceived as very good Brazilian qualities.”

On the streets of trendy Ipanema one recent afternoon, few people could believe that a dog — or at least their dog — could be much of predator.

“The dog is a friend!” sputtered Philipe Soares, the furball Bobby at his feet. “No, I’ve never thought of him that way.”

“Difficult to imagine,” said Carlos Alberto Vicente, peering down at his own pooch.

“In her case,” said Flavio Vilela, a shirtless man striding through a park with a small mutt named Nicoli, “they’d hunt her.”

The problem, researchers say, isn’t these dogs, who lead the coddled lives of European or American pets.

The problem is the dogs in poorer and more rural communities, where the life of the dog is more frequently the life of hunger. They prowl the streets day and night with neither a collar nor an owner, looking for food wherever it can be found — in trash heaps, alongside roads, and in forests and fields, where they form packs to hunt and kill.

“It’s a very complex problem,” said Silva, the government biologist.

A stunning discovery

Katyucha Silva, a government researcher, has discovered dozens of dogs in Tijuca National Park. (Terrence McCoy/The Washington Post)

Ana Maria Paschoal, a researcher at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, remembers when she first started thinking about the dog differently. She was out in the Atlantic Forest in Southeast Brazil around a decade ago when she noticed there were an awful lot of them.

She wondered: How many dogs are using the protected areas? Are these feral or domestic dogs? Is their presence changing the occurrence of wild species?

So she set up cameras across 2,400 acres of forest to find out. What she discovered, published in 2012 in the scientific journal Mammalia, stunned her.

“The presence of the domestic dog is a threat,” Paschoal and her co-authors concluded.

The research, subsequently confirmed in a larger survey, laid the groundwork for a growing field of study here. One researcher linked Brazil’s dogs to the spread of diseases. Another accused the dogs in the National Park of Brasilia, where they hunted in massive packs, of scaring off natural predators. It was found that the closer humans lived to a nature preserve, the more likely dogs had penetrated it.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature has counted 191 species whose numbers dogs are culling. More than half are endangered or vulnerable. (Courtesy of Katyucha Silva)

But perhaps most striking? The dogs were neither feral nor domestic — but somewhere in between.

“All the dogs we detected had an ‘owner’ or a person that the animal has a bond with,” Paschoal said. “The species population increases following human populations, exacerbating their potential impact on wildlife.”

It was something Fernando Fernandez, an ecology professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, learned the hard way. For the last decade, he has been reintroducing native animals to the Tijuca forest, one of the world’s largest urban woodlands, which spills across Rio de Janeiro’s mountains.

First came the agouti, a squirrel-like rodent. Then followed a problem: “Dogs.”

They started killing the agouti, and not for food. It was just for fun.

Fernandez and Silva wanted to learn more. They set up cameras and discovered dozens of dogs in the forest. They estimated more than 100 dogs were in the park — not residents, it turned out, so much as frequent visitors, tracking in from nearby favelas.

“These are people who are very poor,” said Silva, who has six dogs at home. “They don’t have money to build walls. . . . When the owners leave for work, the dog leaves, too, and only returns when the owner comes back to the house from work.”

The owners often have no idea what their dogs are up to. Even if they were told, Rob Young said, they almost certainly wouldn’t believe it.

Young, chairman of wildlife conservation at the University of Salford in Britain, witnessed the psychology at work after seeing dogs kill flightless birds in the state of Minas Gerais.

These factors — inability to see aggression in dogs, in­trac­table inequality, the rapid expansion of humanity — left Silva feeling apprehensive as she watched the tortoises being reintroduced into the Tijuca forest.

In the long term, she didn’t know how the problem of dogs laying waste to the world’s environments would realistically improve.

And in the short term: Could dogs kill these tortoises, just as they’d dispatched a few agouti?

Berkley Jensen Pig Ear Dog Chews Sold at BJ’s Wholesale Club Recalled

September 3, 2019 — Dog Goods USA is expanding its recent recall to include all 30-packs of Berkley Jensen brand pig ear dog chews sold at BJ’s Wholesale Club stores due to possible contamination with Salmonella.

The previous recall is being expanded after testing by Rhode Island Department of Health found Salmonella bacteria in Berkley Jensen brand pig ear pet chews.

What’s Being Recalled?

Dog Goods USA LLC of Tobyhanna, PA, has been contacted by the FDA and is conducting a voluntary recall of the following products: non-irradiated bulk and packaged pig ears branded Chef Toby Pig Ears with the lot codes indicated below.

The affected products were distributed nationwide in retail stores.

What Caused the Recall?

According to the company, Dog Goods USA purchased the affected treats from a single supplier in Brazil from September 2018 through August 2019.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, together with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and State partners, is investigating a link between pig ear pet treats and human cases of salmonellosis.

About Salmonella

Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever.

Dog Survives 31 Days In Woods After Being Hit By Car

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — Niko, a Vancouver family’s dog, survived 31 days in the wilderness after getting hit by a car.

Niko is 16-year-old Caden Alt’s adventure partner.

“He’s always fun to have around,” Caden told KGW-TV. “He’s right there at your side walking around and yeah, he’s just awesome.”

On July 26, Niko went camping with Caden’s father, David Alt, in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. Later that night, Niko wandered over to the road and got hit by a car. David ran from the campsite just in time to see Niko sprint off into the woods.

“A lady jumped out of the car immediately and said, ‘I don’t know how he could’ve survived that,'” he said.

He searched all night, but could not find Niko. He said it was devastating.

For the next 31 days, he and Caden spent as much time as they could going back to look.

“Every weekend we went up there, we searched, that was pretty hard, coming back every day not finding anything,” Caden recalled.

Then last weekend, they got a call from two men who had seen a post about Niko on Facebook and spotted him about 100 yards from where he disappeared.

“That was, just like, my heart dropped for a second, like, is this happening?” Caden asked.

The Good Samaritans canceled their own trip and drove Niko straight to Vancouver.

“So, yeah, my son and I were just crying, it was, it was unbelievable, yeah, and then of course when we’re in the driveway and they bring him up, Caden and I are crying, those two grown men are crying, four guys crying, it was great,” David said.

Niko lost about 15 pounds but is otherwise doing well.

“Skin and bones and one eye shut, he had lost 30% of his body weight, but he immediately was eating and drinking,” David said.

Niko seemed pretty happy to be back by Caden’s side.

“It’s been amazing,” Caden said. “I’m so glad to have him back. He’s not like perfect, energetic back up to himself, but he’s getting there, better every day. He’s just as cute as ever, the house is filled again.”

So what did Niko do for 31 days alone in the woods?

“As far as trying to recap, only Niko knows the story right, too bad he couldn’t tell it,” David said.

During the month Niko was missing, David and Caden said they got a lot of support from people on social media, as well as a lot of tips that helped with the search. They said they are so thankful for everyone who kept them going.

Aunt Jeni’s Home Made pet foods are sold frozen both online and through various retail locations. Lot codes are printed on the lower right corner of the front of each bag.

About Salmonella

Salmonella is a bacterium that can cause illness and death in humans and animals, especially those who are very young, very old, or have weak immune systems.

According to CDC, people infected with Salmonella can develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.

Most people recover without treatment. However, in some people, the diarrhea may be so severe that they need to be hospitalized.

In some patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream and then to other body sites unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.

Consult your health care provider if you have symptoms of Salmonella infection.

Pets do not always display symptoms when infected with Salmonella.

However, signs can include vomiting, diarrhea (which may be bloody), fever, loss of appetite and/or decreased activity level.

If your pet has these symptoms, consult a veterinarian promptly.

You should also be aware that infected pets can shed the bacteria in their feces and saliva without showing signs of being sick, further contaminating the household environment.

About Listeria

Like Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes is another bacterium that can cause illness and death in humans and animals, especially those who are pregnant, very young, very old, or have weak immune systems.

According to CDC, listeriosis in humans can cause a variety of symptoms, depending on the person and the part of the body affected.

Symptoms can include headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions in addition to fever and muscle aches.

Pregnant women typically experience only fever and other flu-like symptoms, such as fatigue and muscle aches.

However, infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.

Pregnant women and their newborns, adults age 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to get sick with listeriosis.

Anyone with symptoms of listeriosis should contact a health care provider.

Listeria infections are uncommon in pets. However, they are still possible.

Like this:

Out of the blue the other day Margaret from Tasmania sent me an email.

Hi Paul,
I happened to come across this rather sad but interesting story.
Thought you might like to read it.
Warm regards
– Margaret (from Tasmania)

The email contained a link to this very sad information.

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The little-told story of the massive WWII pet cull

By Alison Feeney-Hart
BBC News Magazine

12th October, 2013

This dog was treated by a vet, but many were put down at the outbreak of WWII

At the beginning of World War II, a government pamphlet led to a massive cull of British pets. As many as 750,000 British pets were killed in just one week. This little-discussed moment of panic is explored in a new book.

The cull came as the result of a public information campaign that caused an extraordinary reaction among anxious Britons.

In the summer of 1939, just before the outbreak of war, the National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee (NARPAC) was formed. It drafted a notice – Advice to Animal Owners.

The pamphlet said: “If at all possible, send or take your household animals into the country in advance of an emergency.” It concluded: “If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed.”

The advice was printed in almost every newspaper and announced on the BBC. It was “a national tragedy in the making”, says Clare Campbell, author of new book Bonzo’s War: Animals Under Fire 1939 -1945.

Campbell recalls a story about her uncle. “Shortly after the invasion of Poland, it was announced on the radio that there might be a shortage of food. My uncle announced that the family pet Paddy would have to be destroyed the next day.”

After war was declared on 3 September 1939, pet owners thronged to vets’ surgeries and animal homes.

An RAF serviceman delivers a stray to Battersea

“Animal charities, the PDSA, the RSPCA and vets were all opposed to the killing of pets and very concerned about people just dumping animals on their doorsteps at the start of the war,” says historian Hilda Kean.

Battersea Dogs and Cats Home opened its doors in 1860 and survived both wars. “Many people contacted us after the outbreak of war to ask us to euthanise their pets – either because they were going off to war, they were bombed, or they could no longer afford to keep them during rationing,” a spokesman says.

“Battersea actually advised against taking such drastic measures and our then manager Edward Healey-Tutt wrote to people asking them not to be too hasty.”

But Campbell cites an Arthur Moss of the RSPCA who, “gloomily pronounced that the primary task for them all would be the destruction of animals”.

In the first few days of war, PDSA hospitals and dispensaries were overwhelmed by owners bringing their pets for destruction. PDSA founder Maria Dickin reported: “Our technical officers called upon to perform this unhappy duty will never forget the tragedy of those days.”

In Memoriam notices started to appear in the press. “Happy memories of Iola, sweet faithful friend, given sleep September 4th 1939, to be saved suffering during the war. A short but happy life – 2 years, 12 weeks. Forgive us little pal,” said one in Tail-Wagger Magazine.

The first bombing of London in September 1940 prompted more pet owners to rush to have their pets destroyed.

Many people panicked, but others tried to restore calm. “Putting your pets to sleep is a very tragic decision. Do not take it before it is absolutely necessary,” urged Susan Day in the Daily Mirror.

But the government pamphlet had sowed a powerful seed.

“People were basically told to kill their pets and they did. They killed 750,000 of them in the space of a week – it was a real tragedy, a complete disaster,” says Christy Campbell, who helped write Bonzo’s War.

Historian Hilda Kean says that it was just another way of signifying that war had begun. “It was one of things people had to do when the news came – evacuate the children, put up the blackout curtains, kill the cat.”

It was the lack of food, not bombs, that posed the biggest threat to wartime pets. There was no food ration for cats and dogs.

As war approached, families increasingly worried about feeding their animals

But many owners were able to make do. Pauline Caton was just five years old at the time and lived in Dagenham. She remembers “queuing up with the family at Blacks Market in Barking to buy horsemeat to feed the family cat”.

And even though there were just four staff at Battersea, the home managed to feed and care for 145,000 dogs during the course of the war.

In the middle of the pet-culling mayhem, some people tried desperately to intervene. The Duchess of Hamilton – both wealthy and a cat lover – rushed from Scotland to London with her own statement to be broadcast on the BBC. “Homes in the country urgently required for those dogs and cats which must otherwise be left behind to starve to death or be shot.”

“Being a duchess she had a bit of money and established an animal sanctuary,” says historian Kean. The “sanctuary” was a heated aerodrome in Ferne. The duchess sent her staff out to rescue pets from the East End of London. Hundreds and hundreds of animals were taken back initially to her home in St John’s Wood. She apologised to the neighbours who complained about the barking.

But at a time of such uncertainty, many pet owners were swayed by the worst-case scenario.

“People were worried about the threat of bombing and food shortages, and felt it inappropriate to have the ‘luxury’ of a pet during wartime,” explains Pip Dodd, senior curator at the National Army Museum.

“The Royal Army Veterinary Corps and the RSPCA tried to stop this, particularly as dogs were needed for the war effort.”

Ultimately, given the unimaginable human suffering that followed over the six years of the war, it is perhaps understandable that the extraordinary cull of pets is not better known.

But the episode brought another sadness to people panicked and fearful at the start of hostilities.

The story is not more widely known because it was a difficult story to tell, says Kean.

“It isn’t well known that so many pets were killed because it isn’t a nice story, it doesn’t fit with this notion of us as a nation of animal lovers. People don’t like to remember that at the first sign of war we went out to kill the pussycat,” she says.

It’s very difficult to make one’s mind up. As was written there were no food ration cards for pets.

But at the same time this huge pet cull was too much, too soon.

As was written, “The story is not more widely known because it was a difficult story to tell, says (Hilda) Kean.

“It isn’t well known that so many pets were killed because it isn’t a nice story, it doesn’t fit with this notion of us as a nation of animal lovers. People don’t like to remember that at the first sign of war we went out to kill the pussycat,” she says.”